People

My research focuses on understanding patterns of genetic variation within and between natural populations, the processes that promote and organize such variation, and their relevance to the origins and conservation of biodiversity. In particular, I am interested in population structure and the historical and contemporary processes that influence population structure, speciation and hybridization (both ecological and genetic mechanisms of divergence and persistance in the face of gene flow), and the implications of these processes to biodiversity conservation. We develop and apply techniques in molecular biology to address questions in the evolution and ecology of natural fish populations. Molecular genetic (utilizing mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA markers, mtDNA and intron sequencing and RFLP analyses), morphological, and ecological, studies are conducted in the general fields of population genetics, molecular ecology and systematics, and conservation genetics and biodiversity. I am also part of the Native Fishes Research Group which focuses on ecological and genetic studies of native fish diversity and their relevance to conservation. I am curator of the UBC Fish Collection and Associate Director of the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre. I also teach undergraduate courses in Zoogeography (Biol. 413) and Diversity and Evolution of Fishes (Biol. 465), and co-teach a graduate course in Conservation Genetics (Zool. 524).